Japanese Phone Companies KDD, IDO and DDI
Confirm They're in Merger Talks
By Peter Poole-Wilson with reporting from Junko Fujita, Minoru Matsutani
DDI, KDD Confirm Talks With IDO Though Agreement Not Close
Tokyo, Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- KDD Corp., Japan's biggest
overseas telephone service company, and DDI Corp., a long-
distance carrier, say they are in talks that could result in a
merger with Toyota Motor Corp. cellular phone affiliate IDO
Corp., though a decision isn't imminent.
The talks, which are focusing on plans to develop together a
new generation of mobile phones, are continuing, KDD and DDI said
in statements.
This is the first time the companies have confirmed they are
in three-way negotiations.
A merger of the three companies would reorganize Japan's
telecommunications industry into three groups and create the
nation's second-largest comprehensive phone services company
behind Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.
DDI Corp. founder and Chairman Emeritus Kazuo Inamori in
October said prolonging the talks could jeopardize the plan.
Media reports, denied by the company, said Inamori set December
as a deadline.
Japan Telecom Co., currently the nation's fourth-largest
telecommunications carrier, would be the third of three Japanese
phone services groups formed if KDD, IDO and DDI were to merge. |
